THE DUST HAS settled on the race for the Áras, but one of the stories of the campaign was undoubtedly the record number of people who spoiled their vote on polling day.

One in eight voters did so, many of them doing so as a form of protest against the government or for the perceived lack of candidates running in the election.

Many of those who spoiled their votes did so by writing messages on their ballot paper and sharing images of their ballots on social media, but the vast majority of the 200,000 or so spoiled votes went unseen.

So we want to find out more about why people spoiled their votes in such big numbers.

We want to hear from you

With so many spoiled votes in this year’s election, and a wide range of reasons why people chose to spoil their vote, we’d like to hear from you if you were one of those who did so.

In a paragraph or two (a maximum of 250 words), please let us know:

• Why did you spoil your vote?
• When did you decide you were going to spoil your vote?
• Did you write a message on the ballot?
• Was there a candidate who wasn’t on the ballot who you’d have preferred to vote for? Why would you have voted for them instead?

If you have a story to share, please contact The Journal by emailing answers@thejournal.ie.

Please include your name and county, and let us know if you would prefer to remain anonymous.

We’ll include your story in a forthcoming article.